The pinnacle of mortal power, the peak of the mountain, to go any higher, is to become a god. Glassik’s words echoed through Zoe’s time-strained mind, words delayed, echoed, like cymbals falling from the sky as she struggled — and failed — to understand what she witnessed.

Apotheosis.

Rue’s skin burned white hot and sloughed away. Dripping like molten steel as he moved out from his former shell. With the first step, the Gambler’s time halt cracked and shattered. Eddies of stolen seconds stirred and whirled about the stage — sound bites playing — smells flickering and bursting as entropy once more resumed. The mortal contestants gasped as their hearts pulsed, as their minds crackled with thought, as they cowered in the presence of not one, but two mad gods.

Rue raised the fingers of his once-severed hand, now regrown, and Zoe’s mind bled at the sight. She saw the same hand that condemned her with the [Burden of Being Interesting], but her brain interpreted it only as a knife plunging through her eyes. She shied away from that bright being as he — it — Rue stepped between her and the Gambler.

ding!

The Black Star sounded exhausted, faint, as it slowly retracted its chains back into the shape of Zoe’s fingers.

Look at what we did, Zoe!

I know, Zoe thought back, but she could hardly keep the horror from filling her brain. What had she done?

Pieces of the Crimson Armada System slid into place. Level 100 — 100% Skein — but now Rue was something more. Not just thread, but a weaver. A manipulator of reality, five peaks become one — become none — for now, he loomed above them all.

The Gambler’s frail form grew tall and spindly and feral. His golden clothes ripped at the shoulders and knees as he hunched forward on his golden-ringed knuckles. A rictus grin spread beyond the confines of his cheeks like a ragged wound in reality and within those flashing teeth, a smaller mouth spat at Rue.

[You dare?]

Rue’s gaze flicked from his fingers to the Gambler, and, without changing his pose, he was suddenly ready. His authority sent waves of fear through Zoe’s mind.

[You overstep yourself Gambler. How much power did you waste manipulating chance to ensure this result? A coin can only land on heads so many times before luck itself frays… and all for naught. You should know that fear is not as effective a tool as power]

The Gambler laughed with both mouths as his eyes spun faster and faster. His clones dropped to all fours, moving sinuously like wolves as they encircled Rue.

[A child knows nothing of power. You are but one more Mubilashi dashing yourself against me. Come, it is time for you to destroy yourself]

Rue smiled. His hand swept out and starlight burst from the atoms in the air. Silver lances spun out and shredded the clones of the Gambler. Cubes of flesh and golden sequins fell and scattered across the ground like dice. The true Gambler, his form distorted, bellowed. His claws raked the air and left shimmering rips of void and desire.

[Divine Technique: The Rules of War]

The stage warped around Rue. Golden silks fluttered and enclosed him in a vast tent. Chains wrapped around his wrists before they faded, blending into the background as all present found themselves swept into an opulent casino. Zoe felt herself torn apart. Painless, like falling asleep as piece by piece the Gambler rewove the fragments of her Skein into a scene. Her consciousness expanded, shrunk, to observe two Gods combatting on their stage. The tent was small for the two tall beings, golden, and hung with an incense of opium and other, alien spices.

The Gambler, once more stood neat and noble and nasty. Two rows of sixteen squares stretched out along the table between them. Marble tiles inlaid with crushed emerald. The Gambler cradled two dice of carved ivory like they were a fine wine.

[The rules are simple: roll your dice and move your piece along the tiles. Whoever’s piece reaches the other’s first shall deal them a mortal blow]

A many-horned beast with four arms clutching swords materialized at the Gambler’s end of the board. It twitched and roared before freezing into a statuette of solid gold. Cut ruby eyes blazed with internal fire.

[Let me offer you a —]

[No]

Rue smiled, as his arms jerked away from the intangible golden chains. The links fell to the ground, severed by his authority.

[I select my own champion]

The Gambler glared but could do nothing as Rue reached out into the smoke-filled air and snatched Zoe’s soul for his own.

###

Zoe spun around Rue’s fingers like a series of rings of Mirror and Steel and Blood. Invisible threads of Sound and Faith kept her together; each ring interlinked into a chain. Rue’s skin pulsed with heat like a sword fresh from the forge. It burned her fiercely, and the heat penetrated her depths, imbued her, warmed her, and annealed her.

And then she was whole.

She stood upon a tile the size of a small room under a soft and sunless lavender sky. Grass spread out around the tile, and in the distance stood viridian trees. The gentle forest felt like a lullaby, and though she wasn’t sure if it was real or not, it — for the moment — instilled a sliver of peace into her heart.

There is only so much insanity the mind can take before it adjusts or annihilates. She wasn’t sure where she stood between those two extremes, but she was a surgeon, not a psychiatrist.

The smooth marble beneath her midnight boots was perfectly square, cut to the definition of equality, and the marble was so glossy her reflection stared back up at her. There was a subtle shift her reflected expression; a quirk of the smile, a widening of the eyes — did Moth look back, did the Black Star, or had she forgotten what she looked like with all the changes to her soul and substance?

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A question abandoned as the roar of a beast broke through her reverie.

Her Insight let her perceive the monstrosity with accuracy. It stood sixteen squares away, hunched over its four blades, a heavily furred beast twice as tall as a human with taloned feet and six horns sweeping back from its brow. Red eyes burned as it snarled and spat.

Zoe recognized the aura from her encounter with the One-Eyed Crow, this was a demon plucked from the Gambler’s hells.

She ignored it and walked to the edge of the marble square. An invisible force stopped her from stepping outside. Not for the first time she felt like a spider trapped under an upturned glass.

[Who shall roll first?]

The Gambler’s voice echoed through the air. There was a snideness to the usual irreverent tone as venomed fangs protruded from the usually toothless mouth. Zoe could feel that the god was backed into a corner, but that was when everyone was at their most dangerous.

And their most unpredictable.

[Age before beauty]

Rue’s casualness felt similar to how the Gambler had introduced himself. Zoe felt the implications, echos of thoughts that weren’t her own, and as she prepared herself for what was to come, she felt a sharpness inside her, as though she were a sheathe to a new blade.

Rue’s power — even just a fragment — rested inside her.

She was the ring around his finger, after all.

His champion.

And she felt his hatred for how the Gambler seeded countless thousand worlds with the means of their destruction.

A sound like dice bouncing across felt.

Like skulls rolling across a cave floor.

The ancient, clattering of bones on stone, and between each sharp strike, the deep silence of feverish anticipation.

[Seven]

Seven tiles lit up before Zoe and a pressure built up at her back, like a breeze blustering down a tight alley. She took a step forward, and the pressure only grew. She sprinted down the tiles and stopped at the seventh. Her heart raced, something was coming, and there was no way she would be fine.

After all, she was just a pawn in the game of gods. And as the thought slipped through her mind, the system voice chased after.

[You have received the seventh challenge: Heaven]

[Survive the challenge to continue as your god’s champion]

Zoe looked around. She wanted to wrap her chain around her fist, but her fist was now the chain. It shocked her how much she missed the comfortable weight of it upon her skin. Instead, she readied herself and looked around while monitoring the beast at the other end of the tiles.

She should have been weak after the blood loss, after the trauma, of the Feast of the Gods, but the sliver of energy inside her — the blade — left her feeling alert and on edge.

ding!

Pain lanced across her shoulder. Her missing tongue cut short the grunt of pain.

Above you!

She moved before she looked, rolling and twisting as she activated [Self Reflects the World]. Attacks pinged off her skin, but still, they knocked her about. Each one came from above. The lavender sky bloomed with brilliant starlight. Each pinprick swelled and glowed before lancing down toward her.

She shifted her feet. There were only fractions of a second between each attack. Her Insight scraped itself raw trying to keep her alert enough to avoid them all.

And she couldn’t.

One attack after another struck her mirrored skin. Their reflected force blasted out toward the sky and trees but did nothing to prevent the raining lasers.

She felt the voice like a blade against her neck before the words entered her mind.

[If your strategy fails, use a new one]

Zoe gritted her teeth. She balked at listening to Rue -- to any God -- but she couldn’t deny the truth. But what?

[If you aren’t fast enough, don’t bother dodging]

Zoe grinned as she flexed her chains. A lance struck her mirrored arm and bounced away. She had an idea.

Rolling away from a strike at her eyes, she opened her fists. Her chains loosened and flowed out. Acting as an extension of her thoughts the Black Star formed a spinning fan above her as its length spun out.

[Self Reflects the World]

She focused on the technique and sent the mirror wrapping down the chains.

The spinning fan above her reflected the sky and the lancing starlight bounced away.

But there was too much.

Her technique shattered, and Zoe collapsed to her knees. She gasped for air but kept spinning as the chains tanked the heavenly attacks. Flakes of black metal fell before her eyes and the connection with the Black Star system grew strained. At last, the sky resumed its lavender tone. She had forgotten how soothing it was to see a sky that didn’t roil with color. She sat down, heaving for air, and wiped the sweat from her brow with her retracting fingers.

[Skein: 151/298]

Though she had sustained no actual physical damage, her stamina had drained. Would it have been better to forgo the technique and risk a wound? Holes peppered the marble tile she stood upon. Neat circles as wide as golf balls punched an inch deep where each lance had struck.

No, better to lose Skein than chunks of flesh.

ding!

Ow…

Zoe’s attention snapped to her hands. The silver chains that served as skin were almost all gone, only scraps remained twined around the thick black chains of her fingers. And even those chains, the chains of another system, were damaged and chipped. A feeling echoed to her through her connection with the Black Star system, a lonely pain, she wept, not for herself but for what the system had done at her request.

She couldn’t speak, but she whispered her thanks through her mind. If she could give some comfort to the entity that had protected her without a thought for itself —

ding!

You would do the same for me.

Zoe nodded. Was it true? She wanted to say she wouldn’t know until the moment presented itself — to hope she wasn’t selfish — but as she watched the beast stride forward four paces, Zoe realized that for her friends, she would challenge the universe itself.

ding!

Yay, that makes me so happy! Oh, something feels different…

[Black Star level up!]

The excited voice of the Black Star system rushed through her mind, and echoing behind came the voice of the Crimson Armada.

Due to the true connection between our souls, you may select an upgrade!

[Please select an —]

[No!]

The Gambler’s voice shook the air.

[You shall receive nothing from me you damned —]

The sound of a sword slitting flesh, the gentle rasping of air through a severed throat, the dribbling plop of blood dripping onto stone.

[The first lesson a warrior learns is strength, and the second is strength in numbers]

Rue’s voice was subdued, but barely, like a tiger pretending to be asleep in a cage.

[For such a showmanship of camaraderie, you deserve a reward]

* [I Stand With You: Channel the martial prowess of allies into your chains, creating surges of formidable power. The specific effects of the surge depend upon the connected ally]

* [I’ve Got Your Back: Enhance your chains to become an impenetrable shield and safeguard your allies. Your commitment to standing as a stalwart guardian increases your defensive strength]

* [I Will Carry You: Dynamically adjust the weight of your chains by channeling the power of the bonds you share with your allies. Enhance agility with light chains, or increase weight for devastating blows]